


The Past is Hard to Forget When its Written on Your Chest

by anothersouladrift



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Gen, Tattoos, just a random thought that had to come out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-07
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-04 13:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/711438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersouladrift/pseuds/anothersouladrift
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock has tattoos, but he doesn't let just anyone see them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sherlock knows, better than most, that tattoos can tell you a lot about a person. Where they’ve been, what they’ve done, and who they’ve loved, all right there, written out on their skin in dark ink.

Which is why he always keeps his covered. Long sleeved shirts, and collars buttoned all the way up. Because he doesn’t want just anyone reading his life’s story off his arms. Which is why he cannot figure out for the life of him _why_ he doesn’t mind Joan seeing them. The first time she had found him without a shirt, he was been surprised, taken a bit off guard, but found that he didn’t really care if she could learn more about him just by looking. As a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite.

He almost craved it. 


	2. Chapter 2

After that first encounter, whenever he’s in the apartment, he finds himself without a shirt more often not. And if he is wearing a shirt, it is almost always short-sleeved, or has the sleeves rolled up. He can feel Joan’s gaze on his arms, watching as he moves, eats, writes, fidgets, types, or holds perfectly still, waiting for the answers to whatever case he’s working on to appear in his mind.

He decides to retouch his tattoos one day, after Joan had stopped herself from reaching out to touch the one on his left forearm.

He times it so that he is just finishing up when Joan comes down. She of course, takes note of his work right away. He can’t keep himself from bragging of his ambidexterity, but when he jokingly asks if she wants a tattoo of her own, he is startled by the longing that fills him. He suddenly can’t shake the image from his mind, even as Joan prattles on about his ‘soberversary.’ The idea of putting his art on her, forever staining her skin, mingling with the freckles along her shoulder, along the long expanse of her thigh, or in the subtle curve of her ribcage. Ink across her skin, put there by him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, I got inspired by the tattoo touch up of the last episode.


End file.
